Kremlin-backed executives have officially taken control of the Russian operations of French retail giant Auchan, home improvement chain Lemana Pro and French logistics operator FM Logistics.
Ilya Berdnikov, a former official at Russia’s state property management agency Rosimushchestvo, will head Auchan Retail Russia after President Vladimir Putin signed an executive order last week placing it under temporary state management, the newspaper Kommersant reported.
Sources familiar with the matter said Auchan Retail Russia’s former CEO Asya Balabay will stay on to manage daily store operations under Berdnikov’s supervision.
Denis Isayev, the son of former State Duma lawmaker Rizvangadzhi Isayev, will take over at Lemana Pro, according to Kommersant. As with Auchan, the former CEO of the home improvement chain, previously known as Leroy Merlin, will remain at the company and work with Isayev.
FM Logistic, meanwhile, will be headed by Yevgeny Nenashev, a former housing official in the Moscow region. It was not immediately clear whether Oleg Alkhamov, who had served as CEO since 2021, would stay at the company.
Last week, the Russian assets of the three companies, along with those of Swiss food giant Nestlé, were placed under the temporary control of L.E.V. Management, a little-known firm headed by a former police general.
Nestlé Russia will continue operating under CEO Denis Voityuk within the new government oversight structure.
Alexander Shokhin, who heads Russia’s largest business lobby, has said that the latest seizures of Western companies should serve as “preemptive signals” to European officials amid ongoing discussions on whether to use frozen Russian funds in the West to help finance Ukraine.
“In my view, decisions of this kind are largely connected to demonstrating that if you do this, we have retaliatory measures,” Shokhin, who heads the pro-Kremlin Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, told state media.
